In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Genre Conventions:Having relatable locationsFlashbacksAn orchestral scoreAn every-day appearance of the charactersDominant social issuesLack of weaponsLow key/ambient lighting

How did you meet these conventions? We met our conventions well and I think that the genre

of our film is clear from our opening sequence. Our locations enable our target audience to gain personal identity from the film as they can relate to the idea of a school environment. Also the desolate and eerie setting of the woods helps to connote the isolation of the protagonist as a result of her situation. The shot in the teenagers bedroom also enables personal identity for our target audience as it is likely to be a place that they spend a lot of their time. This then enforces emotional pleasures as the audience are likely to feel scared due to the relatable setting of the shot.

How did you meet these conventions? Our opening sequence starts as a flashback in order to

demonstrate the disturbed mind of our protagonist therefore we met this convention. I think that it works well as it emphasizes the torment of the girl. It also demonstrates our ability as a group to show a variation of time zones through our technical skills as it is clear when there is a flash back and when it is present day. We did develop this convention slightly and merged the two time zones together (in the shot in the woods where the protagonist sees her dead friends). This worked well as it introduced the enigma and clearly showed the problem that the girl was facing in that she was seeing ghosts.

How did you meet these conventions? We didn’t stray from the convention of including an orchestral

score as we found that the collection of instruments in the score would connote the collective torments in the protagonists head. The score that we found fitted well to our opening sequence due to the pace being parallel to what was happening in the sequence. As the tempo and volume increase in the score, so does the intensity of the sequence.

We ensured that our characters sustained an everyday appearance regarding their costumes as it reinforced the idea of personal identity for the audience. We appealed to our more sophisticated, secondary audience through the use of costumes as the children in the shot at school are wearing a smart school uniform, and the protagonist is in a suit. This suggests that they are in private education which is often associated with a more sophisticated and smarter way of living.

How did you meet these conventions? It was important that we met the convention of referencing dominant

social issues as our narrative is anchored around the issue of mental illness. There is an underlying suggestion that the protagonist may be suffering from schizophrenia or some form of personality disorder. Although we haven’t made this predominantly clear, it is an option for the solution of the enigma, which our secondary audience are more likely to pick up on. Due to the fact that mental health is an increasing problem in today’s society, particularly with our age group, we thought that it was a suitable topic to reference.

A lack of weapons was also important as it highlighted the idea of a psychological torment, rather than anything physical. The deaths of the four characters at the beginning are ambiguous and there is no indication of weapons as blood is not visible. This provides the audience with intellectual pleasures because there is now an enigma which they will want to solve.

How did you meet these conventions? Low key lighting is a typical convention of horror films

so we included it briefly in the bedroom shot in order to connote the fear and stress felt by the protagonist as she wakes from a nightmare/flashback. However we also used a lot of ambient lighting in order to increase the realism of our production. It allowed us to encourage personal identity for the audience. The ambient lighting created a sinister tone because the audience could then receive the emotional pleasure of fear, as it’s almost as though they themselves could experience what’s happening in the opening sequence.

Did you challenge any of these conventions? During our research and planning stage, we were

considering challenging the convention of the line of action/180 degree rule as it would have disorientated the audience so they would receive a visceral pleasure as they would feel unsettled. However after experimenting with the shots, we found that it only looked confusing.

Although we didn’t challenge these conventions, we did develop some of them in order to suit our production (as previously stated about the flashback convention).

Form conventions:Production logosA flashbackCreditsForeshadowing either the disequilibrium or the

new equilibrium

How did you meet these conventions?We included both our production and distributer logos

(Studio Canal and Warp Films).As previously mentioned, we included a flashback in our

production in order to clearly display what is tormenting our protagonist.

We included our credits in the conventional order for our genre: Production Company, distributer, actor’s names, casting director, writer, producer, director.

We displayed part of the disequilibrium in our opening sequence, foreshadowing the outline of the narrative, giving the audience and idea as to what the film is about.

Institutional Conventions:Independently producedSophisticated narrativeLow budget:

1. No CGI2. No A-list actors

How did you meet these conventions?Our production company is Warp Films, which is a well

known independent film and television production company.

We developed the idea of having a sophisticated narrative as the enigmatic part of the production is aimed at our secondary audience. The main narrative is quite simple, but if you were to examine the plot more thoroughly, our secondary more sophisticated audience would pick up on the reference to social issues and the connection to mental health. This therefore makes the narrative more complicated as there are more options as to who/what our antagonist is.

How did you meet these conventions?We strictly met the convention of producing a low

budget film as we didn’t include any A-list actors and we didn’t use any props or include any CGI. We did all of our editing was done on Final Cut Pro X that our school provided. This software comes at a reasonable price and enabled us to edit how we wanted. Also, all of the equipment that we used was loaned to us by the school. In some cases, we did use some of our own pieces of equipment (the GoPro).

Technical Conventions:Short takesLong takesClose upsLine of action Contrapuntal soundFades

How did you meet these conventions? We included a lot of short takes when filming the shots of the

dead teenagers in the woods. This helped to connote the ambiguity of their deaths as so little is known about how it happened. It also connotes how quickly their lives were taken when they were so young. These shots are also close ups so we met this convention as we felt that the close ups connoted how fearful the protagonist was and how helpless the victims were.

We ensured that we included long takes in the production, such as when we see the protagonist running through the woods. This helped connote the isolation of the girl as she is the only person you see for a long time, and also how weak she is as a result of her fear; she can only run from what is tormenting her.

How did you meet these conventions? We considered challenging the convention of the

line of action as we felt that it could have disorientated the audience so that they gained the visceral pleasure of feeling sick and confused. However after deliberation we decided to stick to the convention as it made the production look smoother and less complicated.

We met the convention of including fades as we felt that it helped to connote the lack of clarity in the protagonists mind.

Did you challenge any of these conventions?We didn’t meet the convention of including

contrapuntal sound simply due to the fact that it didn’t look right with our production. The score that we found fitted perfectly and has a sinister tone with its low pitch and constantly building intensity.

Applying our theoretical research to our production.

Auteur’s personal links to their films:From our research we found that it was important for

the director(s) to “impose a personal vision on their films”. This was perfect for our production as we had planned for the protagonist and the four dead teenagers to be of a similar age to us. This enabled us to relate to any stresses or anxieties that may be felt by people of that age, which in many cases can lead to mental health issues. As a group, we are fully aware of the dangers of mental illness and how it is a rising issue in todays society, primarily with girls. By having a female protagonist suffering with her mental state, we felt as though we could instill some of our knowledge into the production, increasing our products realism.

“Repetition and difference”:Steve Neale created the theory of repetition and difference in

which he stated that “Difference is absolutely essential to the economy of the genre”. He discussed conforming and subverting the conventions of the genre in order to create a USP. We have in many ways conformed to the conventions in order to keep the genre of the film clear, however we have subverted some genres. A stereotypical location for a horror film would be somewhere abandoned to increase the tension, however we have included shots in a school environment which is uncommon for the horror genre. We have also included suggestions that the antagonist could be anything from a supernatural being, to a regular man, conforming to conventional antagonists. However our subversion of this is that we have not clarified who/what the antagonist is, as well as developing the idea in order to include the dangers of mental health problems.

Comparing our production with a similar production.‘It Follows’ (2011)

Similarities:

Both opening sequences feature a female character. Stereotypically females are considered the weaker and more vulnerable sex, therefore they are more suitable for the horror genre when the intention is to inflict fear.

There is tracking in both sequences when the girl in the shot is running away from something. The tracking connotes that there is something coming after the character that she is desperate to get away from. In both cases, she is overcome by fear and is trying to escape the thing that is chasing her.

Differences:In ‘Apparition’ there is a distinct lack of dialogue which connotes the emptiness that the protagonist feels and how separated she feels from the world.However in ‘It Follows’ there is quite a lot of dialogue. The character in this production is connected to the world and is facing different issues to the character in ‘Apparition’ therefore the dialogue connotes how she is in touch with the people around her and part of a society, whereas our protagonist isn’t.

In our Production ,we have included the credits and the title of the film at the end. ‘It Follows’ has taken a different approach and not included any of these things, leaving the narrative ambiguous and open as to where it will lead.

In ‘Apparition’ we have included a lot of close ups and extreme close ups in order to connote the immense fear in the characters and how distanced they are from normality. Whilst they have portrayed the same connotations in ‘It Follows’, they have shown it through the use of a lot of long shots and extreme long shots. The XLS of the girl on the beach connotes her vulnerability as she is not protected by anything. It highlights her fear as she is scrunched up in a ball, as though she wants to hide from something.

The female character in ‘It Follows’ is seen wearing very little clothing and high heels, putting her in the male gaze. She is sexualized by the excessive amount of skin she is showing. However in our production, you can see that our character is represented as the empowered female. She is wearing a trouser suit which is stereotypically a masculine thing to wear and she is in control of her sexuality. She does not show any signs of a need for attention or admiration. Finally, ‘It Follows’ consists of a lot of ambient sound, with a non-diegetic dissonant score in the background. As previously stated, this connotes her connection to the society around her. However, in ‘Apparition’ we have included a non-diegetic orchestral score throughout the sequence. This connotes the power of the threat which is scaring the protagonist.